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JWA News Release: October 3, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JEWISH WOMEN’S ARCHIVE SELECTED FOR COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERS PROGRAM

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUMNI WILL ASSIST JWA IN DEVELOPING PLAN TO CREATE A SELF-SERVICE ARCHIVE

(Brookline, MA) – October 3, 2011 – The Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) has been selected to participate in the 2011-12 Community Action Partners (CAP) Program, an affiliate of the Harvard Business School Association of Boston that includes some of the nation’s most respected business leaders.

CAP brings alumni of the Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government together with representatives from non-profit organizations for six months to develop projects designed specifically for each non-profit. JWA is one of 15 organizations chosen by CAP this year, out of 50 that applied.

Beginning in October, a group of JWA Board and staff members will work with a CAP team to study the potential of developing self-service tools needed for users to digitize their own documents—including letters, clippings and photos—and store them on the Archive’s website, jwa.org. The study will produce a business plan and identify appropriate collection processing procedures.

In the past, it was mostly well known people who donated their papers to archives—usually posthumously and sometimes after many decades. This initiative would make it possible for people who are not famous to create an archival record of their life or the lives of people close to them.

Diogo Teixeira, a CAP Board member who will be working closely with JWA, said that CAP members wanted to work with JWA because of its willingness to take a “tremendous step forward” in exploring the future of digital documentation.

“With an increasing number of people becoming more comfortable with using technology every day, it’s the right time to explore how JWA can help people use this technology to create their own archive,” Teixeira said.

Jwa.org offers the most extensive collection of material anywhere on American Jewish women. Gail T. Reimer, JWA’s Founder and Executive Director, said that the CAP project is an exciting opportunity to work with smart, experienced business people to expand the Archive’s reach.

“JWA is a people’s archive, and we promote an inclusive view of Jewish history,” Reimer said. “I know that we will benefit from the expertise of the CAP team, who will work with us to develop this innovative approach to archive collections.”

About the Jewish Women's Archive

The mission of the Jewish Women’s Archive (jwa.org) is to uncover, chronicle, and transmit the rich history of American Jewish women. JWA is nationally recognized as a vital contributor to a more expansive and inclusive vision of Jewish life, past, present and future. Through its innovative uses of technology and its collaborative partnerships, JWA has successfully changed the way history is researched, recorded, and taught.